Edge of Danger (39 page)

 
Years ago, Adam had tried to teach her to play golf. It had been the most boring three afternoons of her life. Now she tried to remember how one was supposed to hold a golf club. Because weight or not, this was all the protection she had. She was going to have to swing at him with all her might.

 
Gaaaaabriel!

 
Grimly delighted with the sound of the man still gagging in pain, she hefted the heavy sword, and gave a couple of experimental swings. The sharp point barely lifted from the mattress, but she kept trying. It was all she had.

 
Now, if she could just figure out how to get herself and the monstrously heavy sword off the bed, and get to him before he got to her, she’d be set.

 
From her vantage point above him Eden saw that he was gradually uncurling his body.

 
Stunned, her eyes widened.
Oh. My. God.

 
He hadn’t finished transforming himself. Perhaps being in so much pain impeded the process. But she knew who he was.

 
His face shimmered and changed but the vengeful black eyes were filled with rage as he saw her poised high above him.

 
“I’m going to kill you.” The rasp in his voice made the threat even more chilling.

 
Not daring to blink and terrified out of her mind, Eden adjusted her stance, feet wide apart for balance. He wasn’t going to give her enough time to climb off the bed and come after him. His magic was faster than a speeding bullet. Certainly faster than a woman holding a medieval sword.

 
Pleasepleasepleaseplease. Gabriel!

 
Tapping the sword on the bed, she heard the tearing sound as its razor-sharp point ripped a hole in the sheet. Her arm muscles burned with the weight as she choked up on the hilt. Lifting her chin, she gave him a thin smile. “Bring it on.
Jason.
”

 
Mouth smeared with red, black eyes glittered from Gabriel’s face. Jason Verdine laughed as he finished morphing back into himself, making Eden dizzy at the speed of the transformation. At the speed, God help her, of his recovery.

 
He spat blood on the carpet at his feet. “You always were a clever girl. Too fucking clever for your own good. How did you know it was me?”

 
Talking was good. Talking was
great.
“You’re the only man who’s ever called me ‘babe.’ ” At least he wasn’t turning her into a toad or shimmering her to another location. Or killing her. Yet.

 
He frowned. “That’s it?”

 
It pleased her enormously to hear that he was lisping as he talked. His tongue must hurt like hell. She’d tried to bite it clean off. She might not have succeeded, but by the way he was talking, and the expression on his face, he was in a hell of a lot of pain.

 
Tongue and balls.

 
She was fine with that.

 
“I smelled the Sen-Sen on your breath.” She kept eye contact, even though the look in his eyes froze the marrow in her bones. “Now, and earlier, when you pretended to be Dixon.” Her fingers were cramping she was holding the sword so tightly. Her lungs felt constricted. Probably due to the fact that she wasn’t breathing. She was on a knife edge of waiting for him to make a move.

 
He could just zap the sword out of her hands, but right now she still had it. It was sharp enough, heavy enough to do some real damage if she could figure out how to get to him before he fully recovered. Eden realized that the only thing between her and death was the fact that right now he was apparently in too much pain to move. He was standing, but his upper body was still curved protectively over his groin. But that was going to change. Soon.

 
How did one go about killing a wizard? She’d never been big on violence, but when it came down to her life or his, she wanted hers.

 
She shifted her fingers around the thick leather hilt, digging her bare toes into the mattress for purchase. If she jumped off the bed, presuming she didn’t kill herself in the process, she’d be unarmed, because there was no way she could do it without letting go of the sword. It was too long, too unwieldy to be able to hold on to. And there was no way she could climb down off the ridiculously high mattress carrying a four-foot-long sword that felt as though it weighed as much as she did. And was getting heavier by the second.

 
But if she didn’t take some form of action soon, Jason was going to eventually straighten his hunched body and do…whatever it was he planned to do.

 
Think. Think. Think! Hey! Edge?! Now would be a good time! Get in here. Please. Get the hell back into the bedroom.
“Where’s Gabriel?” she demanded, measuring the distance between them.

 
“Dead.” Face gray and contorted with both pain and rage, Jason rubbed the flat of his hand gingerly down his groin.

 
Perspiration stung her eyes. Every muscle in her body vibrated as she gathered herself for his next assault. Her wrists ached, because she was gripping the hilt of the sword so tightly. “No, he isn’t.”

 
Jason brought up a shaking hand to swipe away the blood staining his mouth. “I killed him.”

 
He still wasn’t coming any closer, but Eden saw that he was gradually straightening his body as the pain eased. She didn’t waste any more mental energy yelling for help. If Gabriel was capable of being here, he’d
be
here. And she had no idea if shouting out a call to all wizards could even be heard.

 
She remembered in the wizards’ meeting that the rogue wizard could assimilate the deceased wizard’s powers. But, her analytical mind was quick to point out, just because Jason had morphed himself into
looking
like Gabriel, didn’t mean that Gabriel was dead.

 
She shivered, angry at the thought of any harm coming to her love.

 
She was on her own.

 
“You might have tried to kill him,” Eden told Jason, watching his eyes, hoping to hell she’d be able to somehow read what he was going to do next. “But you didn’t succeed.”

 
He tried to straighten a few more inches, grimaced, and hunched again. “How would you know that?”

 
Was it possible that he was in too much pain to use his powers? Or was he just playing with her before he did something horrifically unspeakable? Eden had no idea. She was just grateful for the reprieve.

 
“The same way I knew as soon as you walked into this room and raised your hand to me that you weren’t him. If Gabriel was dead, I’d know it.”

 
“Well, he is. Otherwise, gallant Gabriel would have come rushing to your rescue, don’t you think?”

 
She glanced over his shoulder and her lips curved in a satisfied smile. “I think you’re a liar, you egotistical jackass. Take a look behind you.”

 
It was the oldest trick in the book, but he turned his head to look over his shoulder, and Eden swung the sword with all her might.

 
A split second before it connected with his head, he shimmered and was gone. “Kill you, you fucking bitch!” came through the empty air.

 
The momentum of the swing, coupled with the weight of the long sword sent her flying off the bed. The heavy weapon went one way, she the other.

 
She screamed as she was caught and held in a pair of arms that clamped around her body like iron bands. She fought like a madwoman, kicking and biting. “You bastard! Let me go!”

 
“Whoa. It’s me.” Gabriel tossed her onto the bed, then followed her down, pinning her flailing body with his own, exerting just enough strength to keep her there without hurting her.

 
His heart was pounding as fast as hers was. Jesus. He’d almost lost her. “Shh. It’s okay. I have you, sweetheart, I have you.”

 
Eden started punching him about the head and shoulders, tears streaming down her face as she struck out blindly. “I know it’s you, you son of a bitch! Where
were
you? What the hell happened to sticking to me like a w-wet tongue on dry ice?!”

 
Half-laughing from sheer relief that she was okay enough to fight him, Gabriel buried his face in her tear-soaked hair, hugging her tightly. “Jesus. You scared the fucking hell out of me.”

 
“
I
scared
you
?” She smacked his shoulder weakly. “I s-scared you?! My God. What took you so f-freaking long? Didn’t you
hear
me calling you?”

 
Cradling her in his arms, he rolled to the side, holding her as if she were made of spun glass. “I heard you. I c—”

 
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,” Eden grabbed a hank of his hair and pulled his face closer. “I know. You couldn’t come into the room when he was in your form.”

 
He gave her a startled look. “How the hell could you know that?”

 
“Deductive reasoning. You told me you and the others cast a protective spell so that only you could get near me. Ergo he was able to pierce that protection by
being
you. And I’m presuming that two yous couldn’t be in the same place at the same time?”

 
He rested his forehead on hers. “Yeah. We had no idea that the morphing process was so all-encompassing. He’s not just a look-alike, he’s capable of replicating DNA.”

 
Her eyes went wide at his statement. For a second he thought she was going to start asking questions as that brilliant mind of hers tried to assimilate and make sense of everything that was happening. Instead she held on to him tightly, and her voice cracked. “From now on, Gabriel Edge, make
contingencies
for these k-kinds of emergencies, damn it!”

 
He cupped her face with both hands, kissing the tears from her cheeks. “I will,” he promised raggedly. “I will.”

 
She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against his throat. “I knew I was going to die. And God—Gabriel—I was so scared,” she whispered hoarsely, her breath hot against his skin. “I’ve never been so damn scared in my entire freaking life.”

 
For an instant his arms tightened painfully around her in reflex to a terror he shared. He’d honest to God believed the spell he’d cast was invulnerable. A look-alike couldn’t have passed through the barrier. But an exact replica of himself could. And had.

 
This new wizard was unbelievably powerful to have duplicated him so perfectly, right down to his DNA. The knowledge that one man held that level of power scared the shit out of him. Having that evil force close to Eden made him feel feral.